Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Quotable Eric Sterling: Before the nation's governors, mayors and county executives propose furloughing or laying off police officers, school teachers, sanitation workers, doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, social workers, and recreation aides who care for our family members and protect public safety, there is one question that the public employee unions should demand answered: How much revenue from marijuana taxation are they throwing away in order to sacrifice those jobs and the families of public employees? 8:02:43 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Students for Sensible Drug Policy Conference Road trip! The national international SSDP conference is happening this weekend in College Park, Maryland. And while I hadn't originally planned on making it, I've been asked to do my Elevator Arguments workshop again and to facilitate a luncheon discussion on education. It looks like quite a line-up - here's the schedule. Some really outstanding speakers and workshops. It's a particularly great opportunity for students. I'm thrilled that we've got 5 students from Illinois State University going (and there will be a couple alums of that group going as well). It's important for students -- great training and motivation, and SSDP does an incredible job of helping students out with scholarships to cover conference fees, lodging, travel, etc. Which leads me to a small bleg. The emphasis is helping students, so a workshop leader like me pays full conference fees and lodging, etc. In any other conference, that would be backwards, but in this one, it makes sense. It was, however, an unplanned expense for me. And I'm driving some of the students 1600 miles round trip to the conference instead of flying in order to save the group some money. So, if anyone would like to help out, I've set up a Pay Page for contributing to this little road trip. Don't contribute unless you have extra lying around. I'm serious. I can handle it and I won't go broke. But if you'd like to vicariously go on a road trip with me, feel free to drop some change in. 1:10:25 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Oh, that scary and complicated medical marijuana There has been an incredible chorus of whining from law enforcement personnel since the initiatives in Michigan and Massachusetts passed. It reeks of desperation and, quite frankly, incompetence. Here's just one more: East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert said he worries people will abuse the constitutional amendment, which he said is unfortunate because the proposal was intended to play on people's compassion for those in serious pain. "There's a lot of potential for abuse," he said. "Another interesting part is who would hold a doctor responsible for the prescription he writes? What would prevent a doctor from handing out prescriptions to anybody who asks?" Wibert, who said he was surprised the proposal passed, said he would have to train police officers on the system of documentation for people who can legally use marijuana. "It strikes me that it should be somewhat confusing," he said. "What type of documentation are people going to have? How would a police officer know whether it's valid documentation?" This is so hard! Somebody is going to have to come up with some kind of... system or something. We don't know how to do that. Why are they making our jobs so difficult? Have you ever heard of law enforcement working with, like, documentation of some kind? It would be as if people who drive cars had to have some kind of pass or card or something. Whine. And gee, what if a doctor prescribed it to someone who wasn't supposed to get it? Well, you know what? Doctors prescribe medicine every day. And they're licensed. And of all the drugs to worry about, what's the worst that could happen from prescribing marijuana to someone who needs it? The munchies? I heard that the crime rate in East Lansing was down, but apparently it is so low that Chief Wilbert's biggest concern is some people (many of whom are seriously ill) experiencing... mild euphoria. And so he's whining about it. Pathetic. 12:08:00 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []